1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data communications in computer systems and, more particularly, to improved data communications among computing devices using a data bus.
2. Related Art
A conventional computer system typically includes a central processing unit (CPU), main memory, and a number of devices that are in communication with each other and the CPU over a data bus, sometimes referred to as an Input/Output (I/O) bus. The CPU, for example, transmits commands and data to the devices (such as hard disk drives, printers, and displays) over the data bus, and vice versa. A variety of conventional data buses exist, such as the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) bus, the Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, the Peripheral Component Interface (PCI) bus, and the Inter-IC (I2C) bus.
Devices typically communicate with each other over a data bus using messages that are defined according to a predetermined protocol. Furthermore, each of the devices is typically assigned a unique bus address. Each message that is transmitted over the data bus addresses the device that is the target of the message using the target device's unique bus address. Each of the devices on the bus typically determines whether a particular message is addressed to it by examining the address specified by the message and comparing it to the device's unique bus address.
Data buses may include any number of data lines, each of which is responsible for transmitting one bit of information at a time. The number of data lines in a bus is typically referred to as the “width” of the bus. Typical bus widths range from 1 to 64 bits. The wider the bus, the higher the potential throughput for a given bandwidth or clock rate. Data buses with one data line are generally referred to as “serial” buses, while data buses with two or more data lines are generally referred to as “parallel” buses.
Parallel buses are typically used when high-speed data transfer is required. Wide data buses, however, are relatively expensive and are often difficult to implement over long transmission distances.
Serial buses are relatively inexpensive and are ideal for implementing long-distance data transmissions. In a serial bus architecture, each bit of a data byte or word (referred to herein as a “datum”) is sent sequentially over the serial bus's single data line until transmission of the datum is complete. The protocol associated with a serial bus typically specifies how data transmitted over the bus are to be delimited and how the start and end of each data transfer is to be identified.
The sequential nature of data transfer over a data bus imposes limitations on the speed with which information may be transmitted over the bus. In particular, the speed with which information may be transmitted over a serial bus is limited by the fact that there is only a single data line over which individual bits are transmitted sequentially. In addition, it is typically only possible to address one device on a serial bus at a time. Addressing multiple devices on a serial bus typically requires addressing each of the multiple devices in sequence.
It is sometimes desirable to ascertain the status of a plurality of devices coupled to a data bus so that, for example, a particular device needing attention may be identified. This can be difficult to do quickly, particularly if many devices coupled to the data bus are candidates for attention, because it typically is necessary to sequentially communicate with each candidate device to ascertain the status of each device so that the device needing attention may be identified. Such sequential communication can be time-consuming, particularly when a serial bus is being used.
What is needed, therefore, are techniques for more efficiently ascertaining the status of multiple devices coupled to a data bus.